Methods and Apparatuses in a Network Comprising a Plurality of Switch Devices

A method performed by a source host node in a network comprising a plurality of switch devices, the method comprising:

• transmitting, to a switch device, a frame including a MAC address of the source host node as a source MAC address;
• a MAC address of a destination host node as a destination MAC address, and information indicating a type of the frame as a request frame;
• receiving a reply frame, from the switch device, said reply frame including the MAC address of the source host node as a MAC destination address, and information indicating a type of the frame as a reply frame, wherein the information indicated in a source MAC address field of the reply frame includes a switch ID of the switch device, a sequence number with a value equal to 0, a hop number with a value equal to 1, and an incoming port information that the switch device uses to forward at least one frame towards the source host node;
• and
• fetching the hop number, the switch ID and the incoming port information.

A switch device in a network comprising a plurality of switch devices, the switch device comprising a processor and a memory containing instructions executable by the processor (310) wherein the switch device is configured :

• receive, from a source host node, a frame including a Medium Access Control(MAC) address of the source host node as a source MAC address;
• a MAC address of a destination host node as a destination MAC address, and information indicating a type of the frame as a request frame;
• send the received frame towards the destination host node;
• generate a first reply frame including the MAC address of the source host node as a MAC destination address, and information indicating a type of the frame as a reply frame, wherein the information, indicated in a source MAC address field of the first reply frame, includes a switch ID of the switch device, a sequence number with a value equal to 0, a hop number with a value equal to 1, and an incoming port information that the switch device uses to forward at least one frame towards the source host node;
• and
• send the generated first reply frame towards the source host node.

A host node in a network comprising a plurality of switch devices, the host node comprising a processor and a memory containing instructions executable by the processor wherein the host node is configured to:

• transmit, to a switch device, a frame including a MAC address of the source host node as a source MAC address;
• a MAC address of a destination host node as a destination MAC address, and information indicating a type of the frame as a request frame;
• receive a reply frame, from the switch device, said reply frame including the MAC address of the source host node as a MAC destination address, and information indicating a type of the frame as a reply frame, wherein the information indicated in a source MAC address field of the reply frame includes a switch ID of the switch device, a sequence number with a value equal to 0, a hop number with a value equal to 1, and an incoming port information that the switch device uses to forward at least one frame towards the source host node;
• and
• fetch the hop number, the switch ID and the incoming port information.